Critics said it was impossible to believe that they could have run up such a bill on rent, maintenance and furnishing the accommodation.

Even a luxury three-bedroom flat with views of Buckingham Palace would cost just over £36,000 a year.

Tory spokesman Owen Paterson said: 'It is completely unacceptable for Sinn Fein representatives, who won't even sit in Parliament, to claim hundreds of thousands at the taxpayers' expense. That is why the Conservatives have consistently opposed members who refuse to take their seats receiving the accommodation allowance.'

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The revelation comes amid mounting public fury over a string of scandals surrounding the second home allowance.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, currently under investigation by Westminster's sleaze watchdog, claimed yesterday that she was the victim of a smear campaign because she was a woman with no independent wealth - an apparent swipe at better-off Tory MPs.

The embattled Home Secretary defended her claims for household items, including an 88p bath plug, as 'fair and reasonable' in a series of broadcast interviews.

It also emerged that Britain's richest MP, Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward, has claimed his maximum under the allowance.

Conor Murphy (left) and Pat Doherty (right) also claimed £21,000 each

The Tory defector, married to the supermarket heiress Camilla Sainsbury, is worth an estimated £40million. He has homes in France, Mustique, New York state and London's South Bank - and a redbrick terrace in his St Helens constituency.

The Sinn Fein bill will trigger further calls for urgent reform of the expenses system.

In total, the republican MPs have billed taxpayers £437,405 in second home expenses since figures were first published in 2001/02.

The flats are in London, but Sinn Fein refuse to reveal their exact location and cost.

The Additional Cost Allowance is supposed to reimburse MPs for the cost of running a second home when they are in London on 'necessary' parliamentary business.

The Sinn Fein MPs are not allowed to draw an MP's salary or pension as they refuse to sit in the Commons because it would involve swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen.

Sinn Fein MPs cannot draw an MP's salary or pension as they refuse to sit in the Commons because it would involve swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen

They are seen only occasionally in the Palace of Westminster and the scale of their flats claim is all the more extraordinary as their travel expenses are relatively low - suggesting they rarely come to London.

Sinn Fein have been entitled to parliamentary allowances since 2002, as part of the Northern Ireland peace process.

Former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit, whose wife was paralysed by the IRA Brighton bombing in 1984, expressed revulsion at the claims. 'As usual, we are being taken for a ride,' he said. 'I'm very surprised that these MPs are so undignified as to claim money from Her Majesty's Treasury at all, since they refuse to recognise the Queen.

'It is too much to claim for living in London when they don't even attend the Commons.'

Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'This is an utter disgrace and demonstrates shamefully grasping behaviour on the part of these MPs'.

He said 'serious' questions should be asked about what Sinn Fein used the flats for.

A Sinn Fein spokesman said: 'Sinn Fein MPs do not receive a salary from Westminster, nor do they employ any family members. Sinn Fein makes no apology for refusing to sit in the British House of Commons. We also make no apology for ensuring that people who vote for Sinn Fein get the same democratic entitlements as everyone else.'

The Sinn Fein MPs are seen only rarely in the Palace of Westminster, suggesting they are not often in London